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Erie eyes $670,000 Town Hall remodel

A grand, spruced-up entrance with outside stairs and two new parking lots are part of a planned remodel at Erie Town Hall that could cost as much as $670,000.

When all is said and done, the remodel of 645 Holbrook St. is expected to create two new conference rooms and room for 13 new staff, said Robert Willsie, an Oz Architecture consultant in Boulder.

The remodel would move the community development department to the ground floor — where the town's police force was housed until a move in September — to offer more "one-stop shopping" to residents who come in to do city business, Willsie said. During the remodel, jail cells and locker rooms formerly used by the police station would be removed, he said.

The main lobby in the new Police Station & Municipal Court Building in Erie, seen Sept. 1. The department moved out of Town Hall and into the new station this fall leaving room to restructure the town building. (Paul Aiken / Staff Photographer)

The police department moved to its own new building at 1000 Telleen Ave this fall.

Police settled into the 17,000-square-foot facility about four months ago, where additional space affords improved community service and technology keeps tabs on the department's 27 employees, Chief Marc Vasquez said in September.

Detective Dan Niemoth said this fall that he was relishing the abundance of space in his new office, which is nearly equivalent to the space the entire department shared in Town Hall.

The new office Niemoth shares with another detective is free of the distractions that made his daily duties even more challenging.

"We were hanging evidence in the girls' locker room to dry, because we didn't have anywhere else to put it," Niemoth said. "Now we can do our jobs."

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Some $670,000 has been set aside for the renovation project in the 2016 town budget. At least another $200,000 is available from a public facilities impact fee to improve parking lots, said A.J. Krieger, town administrator. Bids for the work are planned to come before the Erie Board of Trustees in the near future, Krieger said.

Officials approved up to $24,000 for the Oz Architecture consulting work, according to Fred Diehl, an Erie spokesman.

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